Knock Knock. Who's There?

Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Luke 6:45 -
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

I used to really enjoy watching horror and thriller movies. This is something that quickly stopped when I married my wife. She can not watch these kinds of movies because after she watches them, that's all she can think about afterwards. It consumes her thoughts and after watching a show like that she will even dream bad dreams that are related to the movie that was watched. I was totally fine with them and it never affected me. Then, after not watching this kind of movie for quite a long time it does affect me in a similar way that it affects my wife. I had become desensitized to them, then when I stopped I became sensitive again.

One thing that I have noticed when reading the Word of God is that God either talks about the condition of the human heart in some way or warns us to guard our hearts. He puts tremendous value on our hearts! Our heart is central to everything that makes us who we are and who we are is what we put into our hearts. So, it makes sense when Solomon tells us, in his wisdom, in Proverbs 4:23 to guard our hearts. Set up a "security guard" at the door of your heart and let nothing else in but good things... God things.

A great way to set up a guard that I am sure I have mentioned before is to ask someone you really trust and respect to be your accountability partner. Someone you feel really comfortable with to say anything and everything about your life. If you don't have someone like that, I urge to to find someone like that. Life without accountability sets us up for failure. Here is another great example of having a "security guard" at the door of your heart - Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

We can't very well think about such things if we don't feed our hearts and minds good things. It's clear in the book of Luke that our mouth speaks out of what is in our hearts. Is there something that you are doing that is contributing to the evil in your heart? What are you looking at on the internet? What kind of magazines are you buying and reading? What kind of people are you hanging out with? Do they have a good or bad influence on you? How much time are you spending in God's Word? How much time are you spending in prayer? What kind of music are you listening to? How involved are you in your church? Do you even go to church?

We simply, but tragically, get desensitized and get filled with things that are not worthy of thinking about by getting used to doing things, watching things, listening to things... etc. Those sins become normal and "not such a big deal" and they fill our hearts and they grieve the Holy Spirit.

The bottom line is that Jesus wants your whole heart. In Revelation 3:20 He says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." What He is saying is that what He really wants from you is a meaningful relationship and He wants you to let Him in. His mention of eating together is a great example of relationship building. It's something you do when you are just getting to know someone and in every other stage of relationship building. Eating together gives you time to talk and listen.

So, Jesus wants our heart and He so desperately wants to fill it. Let`s guard our hearts from evil that seeks to keep Jesus out. Let`s watch good shows/movies, let's listen to Godly music more then other kinds, let's stay away from bad web sites, let's pray more and read more of God's Word, let's get an accountability partner...etc... all things good. It's easy to fall into the world's trap of conforming to and becoming desensitized to the world and to its patterns and as a result becoming desensitized to the Holy Spirit.

What part of you do you feed the most? Your flesh or your spirit? Which ever you do feed the most will be the one that controls you. What controls you?

-Bryan @ The Vine